Jack McDevitt was born in 1935 in Philadelphia. He started his writing career while attending LaSalle University. After graduating he joined the Navy. When his time in the Service was over he experienced life as a taxi driver, English teacher and even a customs agent. In 1971 at the age of 36 he received his Master’s degree in literature from Wesleyan University and later in 1980, and with the encouragement of his wife Maureen, he began writing for the first time in over 20 years.
His 1994 novel “The Engines of God” was the first in a seven book series known as “The Academy” series. This first story introduces us to Priscilla Hutchins; a starship co-pilot in training. Over the series the reader watches as Hutch grows from student to confident and heroic ship’s captain to [Spoiler Alert: eventually being in charge of the Academy.]
The Academy universe is Earth-based and set in the near future. It is an empty one with a few mysterious artifacts including a marauding doomsday machine left over from long dead alien civilizations.
McDevitt’s most noted series are the “Alex Benedict” novels. These six, soon to be seven, books follow the adventures of Alex Benedict, an antiquities dealer and his faithful sidekick, starship Captain Chase Kolpath. Alex is part Sherlock Holmes and part Indiana Jones. Chase is beautiful, brave, resourceful, and the perfect Doctor Watson to Alex's Holmesian character. Of note, the first two books in the series “A Talent for War” and “Polaris” were written from Alex’s point of view. The rest of the series is told from Chase’s point of view.
The Alex Benedict universe is set 9,000 years in the future, so there is plenty of history to “dig through” after all, the Pyramids are less than 5,000 years old! There are some story elements which trace from the Academy universe to the Alex Benedict universe, but not all; it is just “one possible future.”
The main themes of McDevitt’s novels are ancient mysteries, lost ships and fabled missing planets. One never knows how story will end. His characters are real people; they have strengths and weaknesses, have relationships with each other and even families. Even in the far future the characters have jobs, go to restaurants and take vacations. (which inevitably lead to a new mystery to solve).
McDevitt adds to additional realism to his stories with other characters who are crooked politicians, ambitious generals, arrogant journalists and vacuous celebrities. There are also heroes, artists and writers. He is quoted as saying “The characters should behave like real people. They get scared, sometimes they talk big, and generally have a sense of humor.”
Other notable works include “Ancient Shores” and “Time Travelers Never Die.”
McDevitt shows his own sense of humor in “Time Travelers Never Die.” When a time traveler needs an alibi for something he did on a Tuesday night, so he uses his time machine to go to a bar on the other side of town on Monday night. He gets drunk, picks a fight and makes sure he’s thrown into the drunk tank for the night; so obviously there’s no way he could have been on the other side of town on Tuesday!
His science is always solid. He said “The research is simple, I pick up the phone and call a physicist or whomever.”
McDevitt has been nominated for the nebula 16 times and won in 2006 for “Seeker.” He has been nominated for the Hugo twice.
~~
Written by WillFlyForFood
YOU ARE READING
Greats of Science Fiction
Non-FictionThis collection of writer profiles aims to showcase the history and lives behind some of the greatest Science Fiction writers the genre has seen. From the early 'greats' and 'masters' of the Science Fiction world to some of the 'genre shakers' who h...
